Environment China

Dear listeners, we hope you missed us during the long summer break! Now, we're back, and hope you'll join us again for another in-depth episode dealing with a rapidly expanding element of China's energy transition: offshore wind.

Today, we’re talking about China’s offshore wind sector and how it compares to the strategies pursued by Western countries, typified perhaps by the example of Norway. Our guest is longtime Beijing Energy Network member Erlend Ek, who was posted to Beijing and lived in China for over 15 years. He is now senior research strategy and energy lead with China Policy. Erlend has over this time headed a long list of commissioned research projects across a diverse range of topics, including China’s industrial development, trade policy, regional economic coordination, and the economic zones system. His master's thesis is entitled: "China and Norway: who leads in offshore wind energy and why? A study in motivation."

Key points addressed in the podcast:

• How China's offshore wind industry started out, and how it compares to the rest of the world. (It started late, but is now largest in the world by far.)
• How China's offshore wind compares technologically. (China has mastered almost the complete supply chain, but so far mainly competes for domestic projects.)
• The role of policy versus markets in China in offshore wind. Erlend points out that the Chinese state plays an important coordinating role, and a very active role in setting objectives, but relies heavily on the market for efficient outcomes within that context.
• How China's strategy differs from that of Norway and other countries more focused on "technology neutral" or "low cost" approaches to the energy transition.
• The two main critiques of China's energy transition and whether they are valid: (1) that subsidies have declining effectiveness and rising costs, meaning they are ultimately unsustainable in bringing about a transition and overly costly, and (2) that the private sector is inherently better at deciding where society should invest than the public sector or policy makers.
• How China localized the wind industry and whether its criticisms of industrial policies in Europe make sense.
• Whether other countries can compete with China in these fields, even with the best policies, given its scale and other advantages.

Episode produced by: Anders Hove

(This episode is a re-post of yesterday's episode, which was missing around 1 minute of content towards the end.)

 

Dear listeners, we hope you missed us during the long summer break! Now, we're back, and hope you'll join us again for another in-depth episode dealing with a rapidly expanding element of China's energy transition: offshore wind.

Today, we’re talking about China’s offshore wind sector and how it compares to the strategies pursued by Western countries, typified perhaps by the example of Norway. Our guest is longtime Beijing Energy Network member Erlend Ek, who was posted to Beijing and lived in China for over 15 years. He is now senior research strategy and energy lead with China Policy. Erlend has over this time headed a long list of commissioned research projects across a diverse range of topics, including China’s industrial development, trade policy, regional economic coordination, and the economic zones system. His master's thesis is entitled: "China and Norway: who leads in offshore wind energy and why? A study in motivation."

Key points addressed in the podcast:

• How China's offshore wind industry started out, and how it compares to the rest of the world. (It started late, but is now largest in the world by far.)
• How China's offshore wind compares technologically. (China has mastered almost the complete supply chain, but so far mainly competes for domestic projects.)
• The role of policy versus markets in China in offshore wind. Erlend points out that the Chinese state plays an important coordinating role, and a very active role in setting objectives, but relies heavily on the market for efficient outcomes within that context.
• How China's strategy differs from that of Norway and other countries more focused on "technology neutral" or "low cost" approaches to the energy transition.
• The two main critiques of China's energy transition and whether they are valid: (1) that subsidies have declining effectiveness and rising costs, meaning they are ultimately unsustainable in bringing about a transition and overly costly, and (2) that the private sector is inherently better at deciding where society should invest than the public sector or policy makers.
• How China localized the wind industry and whether its criticisms of industrial policies in Europe make sense.
• Whether other countries can compete with China in these fields, even with the best policies, given its scale and other advantages.

Episode produced by: Anders Hove

In the latest episode of Environment China's podcast, we speak to Maggie Yao. Maggie is a Senior Consultant at CCaSS EY Netherlands, primarily focusing on EU environmental policy, ESG due diligence, ESG strategy, and CSRD implementation. Prior to EY, she worked as an Associate at RMI China, where she conducted research on coal transition, renewable energy integration and system impact, and power market analysis. She also worked as a Senior Analyst for Coho Climate Advisors, a DC-based energy consulting firm and an ERM Group company. There, she engaged with multiple corporate and industrial companies to help them procure large-scale renewable energy in the United States. Maggie obtained her Bachelor's degree in Political Economy from UC Berkeley, and her Master's degrees from Yale School of the Environment and Johns Hopkins University.   This episode is in Chinese and is produced by our Executive Producer 袁小丹 Yuan Xiaodan (Joyce)

In the latest episode of Environment China's podcast series on Young Professionals in Sustainability, we speak to UB Qiu. UB is a sustainability professional with diverse, international, cross-sector experiences, including in ESG consulting, in-house corporate sustainability, partnership development at a plant-based protein startup, and multiple internships and projects at climate-tech startups/social enterprises in the U.S., China, Kenya, and India. Additionally, she was part of Antler's inaugural Entrepreneur in Residence cohort in Saudi Arabia in 2023. UB holds a Master's Degree in Environmental Management from Yale University and a B.S. in Psychology and Environmental Policy from the College of William and Mary. She was an honoree of GreenBiz 30 Under 30 in 2021.   This episode is in Chinese and is produced by our Executive Producer Xiaodan Yuan.   在环境中国最新一期的环境能源可持续圈打工人系列播客中，我们邀请到了邱洋圣菁 UB —— UB 在可持续发展领域拥有多年的国际化经验，特别是在 ESG 咨询和企业可持续发展管理领域。她也曾在一家植物蛋白初创企业负责企业的合作伙伴拓展。过去两年，她在肯尼亚、印度、及中美参与多个气候科技创业公司、社会企业和碳金融方面的实习和研究项目。2023年底，她入驻新加坡早期创投资本公司 Antler 在沙特阿拉伯的首个驻场创业项目。UB 拥有耶鲁大学的环境管理硕士，及威廉玛丽学院的心理学和环境政策学士。播客文字版记录请查看北京能源网络公众号。   播客制作人：袁小丹

In the latest episode of Environment China's podcast, we speak to Ruixin Li as part of our Young Professionals in Sustainability series. Ruixin currently works as the lead climate specialist at ICF International Consulting (Beijing). He has eight years of experience working on climate change issues and more than four years of experience implementing international cooperation projects. His focuses include carbon market, green finance, and sustainable aviation. Previously, Ruixin worked for Greenovation Hub and China Youth Climate Action Network. He has also assisted several international NGOs in climate communication and local climate action. Since 2014, he has been tracking international climate negotiations under the UNFCCC and witnessed the reach of the Paris Agreement and the Paris Rulebook. His negotiation tracking articles can be found in several media, such as China Economic Herald, Caixin Globus News, and Ming Pao.

This episode is in Chinese and is produced by our Executive Producer Xiaodan Yuan.

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Today, we have a special cross-over episode with the podcast called Preparing for AI, which is hosted by Matt Cartwright and Jimmy Rhodes. The guest for this episode is Anders Hove, long-time host of the Environment China podcast, and Beijing-based Matt Cartwright interviews him about the impact of AI on the clean energy transition. Anders ‘references several points related to China, such as efforts to locate data centers in colder regions, and the results of experiments seeking to make data centers respond to the output of renewables. We hope you enjoy it!

You can read a full transcript of the episode on the Preparing for AI website here: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2320704/14945514

In the latest episode of Environment China's podcast, we speak to Zhinan Chen as part of our Young Professionals in Sustainability series. Zhinan is a senior associate with Rocky Mountain Institute's India Program, based in Oakland, California, United States. She collaborates with national and state-level partners in India to accelerate the country’s transition to zero-emission trucking. At RMI, she also helped shape the concrete and cement initiative as one of the founding members, where she designed net-zero strategies for the global concrete and cement industry through thought leadership and stakeholder engagement. Zhinan has worked in the non-profit sector for four years, mainly covering heavy industry, transportation decarbonization in Asia, and US-China climate cooperation. Zhinan holds a Master’s Degree in Environmental Management from Yale University and a Bachelor’s Degree in Arabic and Economics from Peking University. This episode is in Chinese and is produced by our Executive Producer Xiaodan Yuan.   Support our podcast on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/EnvironmentChina

Today's episode looks at the complex topic of corporate climate disclosures. Our guests today are Erica Downs, Ned Downie, and Lou Yushan. They are the authors of a recent report, published by the Columbia Center on Global Energy Policy (CGEP), entitled “China’s Climate Disclosure Regime: How Regulations, Politics, and Investors Shape Corporate Climate Reporting.”

Erica Downs is senior research scholar at the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University; Edmund Downie is PhD Candidate in Public Affairs at the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs; and Yushan Lou is Research Associate at the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University.

In the podcast we discuss:

• How disclosures on ESG and carbon emissions differ in Hong Kong versus the mainland, and for listed versus unlisted firms
• The differing incentives SOEs have for making public climate disclosures
• The value of such disclosures for policy, given that policy-makers have so many other command-and-control instruments on climate policy and ways of obtaining emissions or climate-related information from the largest emitters
• The ways investors can and do influence Chinese firms, including SOEs, to improve climate disclosures

For further reading:

Edmund Downie, Erica Downs, Yushan Lou, “China’s Climate Disclosure Regime: How Regulations, Politics, and Investors Shape Corporate Climate Reporting," Columbia Center on Global Energy Policy, 29 November 2023, at https://www.energypolicy.columbia.edu/publications/chinas-climate-disclosure-regime-how-regulations-politics-and-investors-shape-corporate-climate-reporting/.

Edmund Downie, Erica Downs, Yushan Lou, "Better disclosure rules can help China’s financial markets work for the climate," China Dialogue, 4 January 2024, at https://chinadialogue.net/en/climate/better-disclosure-rules-can-help-chinas-financial-markets-work-for-the-climate/. 

Episode produced by: Anders Hove

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In the latest episode of Environment China's podcast, we speak to Wen Yi as part of our Young Professionals in Sustainability series. Wen Yi is a doctoral graduate in Transportation Engineering from the University of Tennessee in the United States and a master's degree in statistics. He previously received a master's degree in Environmental Science and Management from the University of California, Santa Barbara. Wen Yi has been deeply involved in the environmental field since his undergraduate degree. During his PhD, Wenyi’s main research area was micro-mobility, especially the study of the impact of bike-sharing on the transportation system, environmental ecology, and personal health. 

Episode production: Joyce Yuan

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This is an emergency podcast about the Sunnylands Statement on Enhancing Cooperation to Address the Climate Crisis, which was released just a day ago. Top US and China climate negotiators Xie Zhenhua and John Kerry have held several days of talks at the Sunnylands estate near Palm Springs in California, and released this joint US-China statement in the lead-up to COP28 in Dubai.

Just a few months ago, Kerry had visited BJ to negotiate similar topics, and President Xi had used the occasion to emphasize that China would set its own path on climate, and not give in to pressure. So this joint statement comes as a bit of a positive surprise.

Topics we discuss:

• The top highlights of the announcement, especially economy-wide emissions cuts and addressing all GHGs.
• The meaning of "meaningful post-peak reductions in power sector emissions."
• The importance of the phrasing around tripling renewable capacity.
• What this means (or doesn't mean) for global stock taking.
• How the issue of trade policy will play at the COP.
• China's potential contribution to loss and damage funds.

Further reading: 

Li Shuo, "What Does China Want From COP28?" Asia Society Policy Institute, November 2023, at https://asiasociety.org/policy-institute/what-does-china-want-cop28. 

This episode was produced by Anders Hove.

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